We have two little learners in our home this year: five year old Jem and seven year old Scout. That puts both of them in the Core Phase of learning. Read more about that in this post but in short, Core Phase looks like a whole lot of just being a kid: playing, listening to stories, and doing things together as a family.

I already know Scout and Jem are going to be interested in whatever big sis Kathryn is studying, so I’m tying their learning into Kathryn’s high school level studies, which will focus on oceanography.

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Elementary ocean study:

We’ve already planned field trips to the Georgia Aquarium and to one of the aquariums on the North Carolina coast. Most exciting of all: Scout and Jem will be visiting the ocean for the very first time on our upcoming family vacation!

Kid-friendly ocean books (a partial list):

• Apologia’s Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
• National Geographic Readers:
  Dolphins; Sea Turtles; and Weird Sea Creatures
• The Seashore Book – Charlotte Zolotow
• A Swim Through the Sea – Kristin Joy Pratt
• Seashells, Crabs and Sea Stars: a Take-Along Guide
• Children’s Guide to Sea Creatures – Simon & Schuster
• Seabird – Holling C Holling
• Pagoo – Holling C Holling

Follow my “oceanography” Pinterest board for ocean study resources for all ages; I’ll keep adding to it throughout the year.

Basic elementary homeschool curriculum:

Though I believe this stage of learning should look a lot like unschooling, we’ll be doing some structured things because Scout needs one-on-one time with me, some direction to her day, and to practice skills like math and handwriting.

I’m excited to try Little Passports for a fun way to learn geography, plus a map skills workbook I think she’ll will enjoy.

The Reading to Learn series is wonderful to practice reading; we’ll start with the Grade 1 reader because they tend to run above standard reading level. She will continue Explode the Code for phonics, and we’ll use A Reason for Handwriting and Draw Write Now for copywork and a bit of drawing.

For math, we’ll be using Horizons Math 1. Based on using this in the past, I believe it will be challenging enough but not so much as to cause frustration.

In addition to those basics (and the science we’ll cover with our ocean study), I’m trying to feed Scouts’s extroverted personality with some outside activities. She’ll be doing Choi Kwang Do (which she began over the summer), children’s choir and a missions class at church, and taking a group homeschool class about the solar system.

Kindergarten curriculum:

Simple, simple, simple. That’s my motto for all elementary learning, but especially for this young age. Jem will listen in on our read-alouds, and we’ll work through Singapore Essential Math Kindergarten A and a few workbooks from Rod and Staff. He’ll also do children’s choir (the boy sings ALL the live-long day!) and a Mission Friends class at church. Beyond that, he’ll build a million things with LEGO blocks, ask innumerable questions about anything that moves (and some things that don’t), and he’ll spend as much time as possible playing outside.

Last year was all about us all adjusting to life as a new family; this year I’m optimistic (but realistic) about a good year of learning together now that we’re much more of a cohesive family unit.

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Visit iHN’s “not back-to-school” curriculum blog hop for more ideas!

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »